Beautiful Disaster
by hg-always
Summary: With the war against the Dark spiraling downhill, the Order is crushed to learn Voldemort has a son—-and what’s more, he’s Harry Potter, the boy who was thought to be dead for 18 years. And what is it about Ginny Weasley that’s caught Harry’s attention?
1. Prologue

**Author: **Molly

**Disclaimer: **Harry Potter and all related characters belong to the amazing J.K. Rowling who happens to not be me, clearly.

**Summary: **The war isn't going well for the Order, and they aren't pleased to learn that Voldemort has a powerful son he's been keeping secret. They get the surprise of their lives when they capture this mysterious stranger and he turns out to be not a stranger at all but Harry Potter, the boy who went missing eighteen years ago when he was only a baby. But Harry has changed. He's Dark and unruly and it seems there's nothing he's incapable of doing. But what is it about Ginny Weasley that's caught his attention?

* * *

"But he's so beautiful; he's such a beautiful disaster.

And if I could hold on through the tears and laughter

Would it be beautiful or just a beautiful disaster?"

—Kelly Clarkson, _Beautiful Disaster_

* * *

Prologue

**Halloween, 1981**

"Lily, take Harry and go! It's him! Go! Run! I'll hold him off—"

The door burst open and James Potter found himself staring into the deformed eyes of Lord Voldemort. He immediately sent a Stunner at the Dark wizard but it was easily deflected.

"Is that all you've got, Potter?" Voldemort cried gleefully. "I haven't the time for this."

With a quick flick of his wand, he sent the Auror crashing towards the living room wall, unconscious.

Now for the boy.

He soundlessly Apparated to the top of the stairs, where he caught sight of Lily Potter in the nursery, the boy in her arms and ready to Disapparate.

No, she wasn't going anywhere. He quickly brought up his own anti-Apparition charm and watched gleefully as the girl realized she was trapped. She slammed the nursery door shut in desperation but he blew it off its hinges with another wave of his wand.

Voldemort let out a cackle of high-pitched laughter as he saw the fear in Lily Potter's eyes as she placed her small child back in his crib and used her own body as a shield. She brought up her wand but he quickly pulled it out of her grasp with a silent _Accio_.

Lily began to weep; she was weaponless, and Lord Voldemort was preparing to murder her only son.

Voldemort raised his wand.

"Not Harry!" she screamed, tears rolling down her face. "Not Harry! Please—I'll do anything—"

"Stand aside. Stand aside, girl!"

"Not Harry, not Harry, please not Harry!"

"Stand aside, you silly girl," Voldemort commanded. "Stand aside, now…"

"Not Harry, please no, take me, kill me instead—"

"_Stand aside!" _Voldemort hissed.

"Not Harry! Please…have mercy…have mercy…"

Voldemort laughed. "Lord Voldemort shows no mercy. _Crucio!"_

Lily screamed in pain, but still she held on tight to the boy's crib. Voldemort sent her flying to the opposite wall like he had her husband, and like her husband she lay unconscious.

The Dark wizard took a step forward and glanced down at the boy. The one Albus Dumbledore believed would someday overpower him. He laughed again.

The child's eyes were open now—his mother's screams had no doubt awakened him. The young emerald eyes looked into the red, catlike ones, waiting, as if they knew what was coming for them.

Voldemort brought up his wand again and pointed it at the boy. "Goodbye, Harry Potter," he said heartlessly. "_Avada Kadavra!"_

A flash of green light, the sound of rushing water. Voldemort watched in terror as the curse connected with the boy and did nothing but create a cut on his forehead, thin and shaped curiously like a lightning bolt. And then the green light came back to the Dark Lord, so quickly he had no time to move.

He screamed as his soul was ripped from his body.

* * *

Hundreds of miles away, Bellatrix Lestrange fell to the ground in pain. The Dark Mark on her left arm was scorching.

Something was terribly wrong. Before he left the Dark Lord had created a personal connection with Bella. If anything were to go wrong, she would know. She had been proud and honored to have been the one he chose. Not Lucius or Avery or even Severus. No, _she _had been the chosen one.

But now the pain was unbearable. Something horrible—unthinkable—was causing it.

Bella battled through the pain and focused on Apparating, concentrating on the address the Wormtail had revealed. She would show her master her loyalty and courage. She would save him, become legendary, his number one…

With a loud _crack _she disappeared out of thin air. She reappeared outside the Potters' house, which appeared to be heavily damaged. She briefly wondered how she was able to bypass the anti-Apparition wards Dumbledore had no doubt placed around its proximity, but her thoughts we interrupted as she felt that excruciating pain again. She rushed into the house and saw James Potter sprawled on the floor by the far wall. Her feet carried her past the form of the unconscious Auror and up the stairs, where she immediately saw the door of the nursery had been blown to smithereens.

It was then that she heard the Potter brat crying. So he was still alive. But that meant her master…he wasn't…_dead_?

No, he wasn't there at all.

But then Bella noticed the pile of black robes lying on the floor by the boy's crib. And worse—the Dark Lord's wand.

"Master!" Bella cried desperately. "My lord, where are you—"

'_Take the boy.'_

Without a second thought, Bella obeyed the familiar voice in her head and reached for Harry Potter, who was now screaming and clutching his little hands to his forehead, seemingly in pain. But when she touched the boy, her skin started to blister painfully.

"My lord!" she cried, releasing her grip on Potter. "What's happening to me?"

'_Take the boy!_' commanded the Dark Lord again. '_Take my wand as well and leave. Quickly!'_

Bellatrix wrapped the crying boy in her Master's discarded robes, careful not to touch his bare skin. She picked up the wand that was lying beneath the robes and prepared to Disapparate.

Before she left she heard distinct cracks of Apparition and then—

"Oh _no, _the Potters!"

"Dumbledore was right—he's been here!"

The Aurors had come. Without a second of hesitation, Bella, the Potter boy held carefully but firmly in her arms, Disapparated away, leaving nothing behind but a loud _crack_, which the Aurors would later decide had been Lord Voldemort leaving Godric's Hollow after murdering Harry Potter.

* * *

**A Few Months Later…**

"Bellatrix."

Bella stopped pacing the dungeons of Riddle Manor at the sound of her fellow Death Eater's voice.

"Is it ready?" she cried anxiously.

"Why would I be here if it weren't?" Snape replied coldly.

"How is it that such a renowned Potions Master such as yourself takes three months to prepare a simple potion, Severus?" Bella retorted.

"It was hardly simple—"

"Yeah, yeah. Just give me it."

Snape scowled. "How is it that you feel like you can demand anything you want? I've used three months out of my life to make this bloody potion, so I had better know why."

Bellatrix sneered in anger. "I'm under orders from the Dark Lord himself, Snape," she said. "Why don't you take it up with him? Besides, how can you call your pathetic existence of pining after that Mudblood Potter a _life?"_

Bella could see that Snape wanted to retort, but he kept his anger in check and led her out of the dungeons, simply saying, "I have the cauldron by Riddle's grave, as the Dark Lord requested."

In truth, Bella wanted this whole thing over with so she wouldn't have to care for the Potter brat any longer. The Dark Lord had commanded she keep him a secret from all the other Death Eaters, even the ones from the innermost circle. At first Bella had been honored to have been chosen by her master for a special task again, but now she detested the days she spent feeding the boy and having to hear him cry for his Mudblood mother.

But today it would all be over. The Dark Lord would regain his body and kill Potter once and for all. And as for the matter of his body, Bella considered herself lucky that her master had rarely made appearances in front of all his followers so she was free from having to explain his extended absence.

"Here it is," Snape said, snapping her out of her reverie.

They were on the grounds now, in a graveyard. A cauldron of mass proportions sat boiling over a large fire, the potion inside sending out fiery sparks.

"Leave," Bellatrix commanded.

After Snape grudgingly obeyed, Bella hurried back inside the Manor, finding her way to a secret room.

"It is ready, Master!" Bella cried to the back of an armchair.

"_Take us both to it."_

Bella retrieved Harry Potter, who was crying again and clutching his hands to his lightning bolt scar, and then took the bundled form of her master in the other hand. She made her way back to the cauldron, where she promptly placed Potter on the ground.

"_Do it now."_

She gingerly placed the small, skeletal being in the cauldron.

"_Bone of the father, unknowingly given, you will renew your son… Flesh of the servant, willingly given, you will revive your master… Blood of the enemy, forcibly taken, you will resurrect your foe."_

Bella went through the motions as she chanted the spell. She found it hardest when had to cut a finger off, but didn't flinch at all as she made a gash on Potter's arm to take his blood.

And finally…

Lord Voldemort rose from within the cauldron.

"Robe me."

Bella did as commanded and then showed the Dark Lord the stub where her little finger had been. "My lord, please, my hand…"

"Ah, yes, Bella. You have been very loyal to me."

He raised his wand and then a silver finger replaced the bloody stump.

"Thank you, Master! You are so very kind. What would you have me do?" she asked eagerly. "Kill the boy?"

"No, Bella," the Dark Lord said. "I have new plans for Harry Potter. I will raise him as my own."

For the first time in her life, Bella had nothing to say to the Dark Lord. She stood rooted to the spot as she contemplated his words.

"Ra—raise him, Master?" she finally managed.

"Yes."

Normally Bella would have never questioned the Dark Lord, but today they were not under normal circumstances. Her lips moved as if by their own accord. "But _why_?"

Instead of casting the Cruciatus on her like she'd expected, Voldemort simply laughed.

"I can feel the raw power radiating off of him," he said, glancing down at Harry, who was no longer crying. "Such power cannot be wasted. He will be taught of need to purge the world of Mudbloods and Muggles, and he will become the strongest of my followers. He will cease to be Harry Potter and one day the world will fear him as they fear me."

Voldemort laughed again.

"Lord Voldemort's heir—and one of their own."

* * *

**AN: **Umm... so yeah. Here I go again. Fans of **Confessions**, know that I have not abandoned that story. I've just had no time to write anything these last few weeks because school has started once again. I wrote this chapter a month ago, but I wasn't sure if I'd publish it. Now I just couldn't resist. This was a bad move because I won't be able to update for a while, in which time you readers will no doubt be cursing my very existence for working on so many stories at one time. So I am sorry.

On a second note, this fic will be immensely H/G. Unlike other Dark!Harry stories where Ginny is a minor character Harry falls in love with, this one will function _because _of his love for her.

On a third note (Will these notes ever stop, you ask?), the quote at the beginning has nothing to do with this chapter. You will find out about it later.


	2. Prisoner

"Death, you bring death and destruction to all that you touch."

—Muse, _Take a Bow_

* * *

Prisoner

Ginny Weasley sat gloomily at the kitchen table of Grimmauld Place, stroking her pet pigmy puff, Arnold, anxiety evident on her freckled face.

"When do you suppose they'll be back?" Ginny asked no one in particular, seemingly for the millionth time.

Her mother, who was sitting at the head of the table knitting Charlie's Christmas sweater, startled and missed a stitch.

Instead of answering Ginny, Mrs. Weasley muttered, "They'll come back, all of them. They _will_…"

Mrs. Weasley had been reassuring herself of this for hours; Mr. Weasley, Bill, Charlie, Tonks, Remus, Sirius, the Potters, and Mad-Eye were on an Order assignment, and from the short updates Charlie had been able to report every hour or so, they could tell that things were not going well. Ginny, who would rather have been fighting with her brothers—though Ron, who was in a sour mood, had not been allowed to go either—than sitting at Grimmauld Place doing nothing, could just imagine the chaos that was ensuing. Apparently, hundreds of Death Eaters had raided Hogsmeade that morning, killing or injuring a large number of Hogswarts students. The Aurors had been the first to respond, but later a large part of the Order had joined them. The gesture hardly made a difference; three hours ago Charlie had told them that the Death Eaters had been joined by the so-called Prince of Darkness, or, as some people called him, the Prince of Death. At this revelation, Mrs. Weasley and Fleur, who was crushed with worry over Bill, had gasped in horror.

Ginny too had hardly been able to contain her shock. Two years earlier, when she had been in her sixth year at Hogwarts, Snape had gone running to Dumbledore proclaiming that Lord Voldemort had named his heir. The Ministry got wind of it not long after, and a series of murders came to follow, which Snape later confirmed to the Order had been the doings of the "Dark Prince" himself. The Wizarding world had been in a state of even greater frenzy ever since. Judging from the murders and raids the Prince was associated with, and rumors that he had power to nearly match that of Voldemort's, Ginny couldn't help but be worried to death about her family and friends.

"This is so unfair," Ron cried from across the table, earning a warning glare from Hermione, who was seated next to him. He ignored her and continued, "I should be there fighting, too. Why do Bill and Charlie get to go and I can't?"

"_I_ should be there," said Neville Longbottom, who was sitting across from him. "They're calling me the _'Chosen One'_ so I think it would be reasonable for me to actually be doing something to stop Voldemort."

Fleur flinched at the name.

"I suppose you two want to be killed too, do you?" Mrs. Weasley shrieked, her cheeks red with anger. "It's not good enough that all the rest of my family dies, you have to, too, is that it?"

"Thanks, Mum," Ginny said. "What am I then, a Potter?"

"They aren't going to die, Mum, honestly—"

"How do you know?" Mrs. Weasley cried. "How do you know they haven't all already died? Charlie was supposed to have come back hours ago… _How do you know they aren't all dead?"_

"Because—"

Neville kicked him under the table and he finally shut up.

Mrs. Weasley, however, continued to mutter, "What if they're all dead? If none of them return…"

It was at that moment that they heard a faint _pop_ of Apparition. Mrs. Weasley let out a small scream as she hurried out of the kitchen and into the entrance of Grimmauld Place. Ginny followed her, Neville, Hermione, Ron, and Fleur at her heels.

"Mum, it's me," Charlie's said from behind the door. Ginny was quite impressed when Mrs. Weasley, even in her present state of mind, managed to ask Charlie for his password.

"If you hadn't gone chasing dragons all over the world, what would you be doing now?"

"Playing Seeker for Puddlemere United," came Charlie's muffled reply.

"Now let him in!" Ron cried impatiently. "I want to know what's been going on!"

"No, you still need to test me, dear," Mrs. Weasley told Charlie.

Ron groaned in frustration, and Hermione shot him another look of warning.

"All right," Charlie said, understanding his mother's need to follow protocol. "Why were you angry with Bill and me for months during my second year at Hogwarts?"

"Because you two snuck out of school to go watch the Quidditch World Cup, and you were nearly trampled to death," Mrs. Weasley answered, opening the door. When she took in Charlie's appearance, she let out another gasp. He was covered from head to toe with blood, and he had several cuts on his face and arms. His robes were tattered.

"Charlie!" Ginny cried, horrified. "What happened? How are you still—"

"Relax," Charlie said. "Most of this"—he motioned the blood on his clothes—"isn't mine. I'm not completely incompetent; I managed to bring down a fair share of Death Eaters."

Ginny sighed in relief, but the others still were not satisfied.

"Where is Bill?" Fleur demanded. "Why is 'e not with you?"

"He's fine," Charlie consoled. "They are _all _fine," he added for his mother's benefit. "Just a few scratches here and there… But that's not important right now. You all need to leave _now."_

"Why?" Hermione asked.

"I'm not to say anything," Charlie told them. "I was just sent ahead to get all of you out of the house."

"No," Ginny said. "I won't leave until you give me a good reason."

Neville and Ron nodded in agreement.

"It's not your choice to make—"

"Well, you can't make it for me," Ginny retorted, silently daring him to try.

Charlie looked at his mother in desperation, hoping she'd demand that they all leave. Mrs. Weasley, however, was barely paying attention, her mind still on her family and friends.

Charlie sighed. "All right. I'll tell you, but you have to promise to leave when I do."

"I'll leave," Ginny said. "If I feel like you make a good enough point."

Charlie sighed again, but then continued. "This is for your ears only," he told them. "_No one_ is to know."

"Obviously."

Charlie ignored her sarcasm. "As you know, the Death Eaters were joined by the Dark Prince earlier today—"

"Did you see him?"

"If you'll let me tell the whole story, Ginny, then maybe you'll find out."

Ginny scowled, but quieted and waited for the rest.

"Anyway," Charlie continued, "the Prince came. He was just…_terrorizing_. He Stunned a dozen Aurors and a few Order members in the space of just a few seconds. Thank Merlin he wasn't using the killing curse. Probably a large number of people would be dead by now, but I guess it takes longer to cast the _Avada Kadavra_ than a simple _Stupefy, _so we got lucky there."

"But what did he _look_ like?" Ginny asked, unable to keep her vow of silence.

"Couldn't tell," Charlie said. "He was hooded, and when I looked at his face all I saw were shadows. A lot of us thought he had to be ancient, to have so much power, but at one point he yelled something to the Death Eaters and his voice sounded young. He probably hasn't even reached thirty yet… But anyway, half an hour ago Dementors joined the battle—"

Everyone shuddered.

"—and started to wreak their own havoc. Several Aurors collapsed after a few minutes. The Prince turned around and headed towards Hogwarts, a swarm of Dementors following him. At least two dozen of us went after them, and finally someone's spell managed to pass through the Prince's wards, and he collapsed—"

"You captured him?" Neville asked excitedly.

"Yes. After we shot our Patronuses at the Dementors, Dumbledore came and Obliviated the Aurors—"

"He did _what?"_

"Obviously they can't know the Order's got the Dark Prince, Ron," Hermione said logically. "You know the Ministry is corrupted—"

"But the Potters are Aurors—"

"Just because they are on our side doesn't mean everyone else is too."

Charlie nodded in agreement. "Thank you, Hermione. Sometimes I wonder where my little brother would be right now without you and Neville…"

Ginny snickered, earning an evil glare from Ron. "Well, go on with your story," she told Charlie. "Where's the Prince now? Is the battle over?"

"That's why I was sent ahead," Charlie said. "You're all supposed to leave—"

"_What?"_ Neville cried. "They're bringing him here?"

"Yes, so—"

"I'm not leaving," Ginny said, but she wasn't the only one. Ron and Neville had determined looks on their faces, and Hermione, though she looked slightly uneasy about breaking the rules, refused to leave either.

Charlie scowled. "Fine," he said, accepting his sister's stubbornness. "But you need to go to the kitchen when they bring him in."

"No."

"Charlie's right, Ginny," Mrs. Weasley finally interjected. "We don't know what this man is capable of."

"But the Order must have his wand—"

"In the kitchen—_now."_

Scowling, Ginny stomped down to the kitchen, not caring that Mrs. Black started screaming at the top of her lungs at the noise. She was almost eighteen, for Merlin's sake! She was a reserve Chaser for the Harpies, and in sixth months, when Katherine Hicks would retire as Chaser, Gwenog Jones had promised Ginny the position. She even lived in her own flat, and here she was, still being told what to do by her mother. She had, against her mother's wishes, officially joined the Order after she left Hogwarts, hopeful that her mum wouldn't be able to stop her from fighting the war then, but so far she hadn't been allowed to do anything. No matter how hard she tried, no one thought she'd be able to handle the fight. Even Neville, Ron, and Hermione got to fight sometimes, but no one thought she was ready. They all thought she was helpless.

She slumped in her chair, and after a few minutes—Ginny reckoned they had been shutting the curtains on Mrs. Black—the others joined her.

Mrs. Weasley took in her grouchy demeanor and said, "Don't be foolish, Ginny. Why would you even want to see that monster?"

"Maybe if you lot didn't try to protect me from _everything _all the time I wouldn't be so curious," she retorted.

"You'd be dead by now by your curiosity if we _didn't_ protect you," Ron said.

"I'm not helpless. I can watch out for myself."

"Yeah, like you were watching out for yourself during that Death Eater attack at Hogsmeade last year—"

"I would have been just fine if you three hadn't jumped in," Ginny retorted angrily. "I could have Stunned those two Death Eaters behind me without your help."

"In _theory_," Ron said haughtily. Neville was tried to hush him at the sight of Ginny drawing her wand. "You can't claim to be all-powerful without having actually done some—argh!"

Ginny watched in satisfaction as Ron tried to keep the bat bogies away from his face. Her mother, however, had a completely different reaction.

"Ginevra Molly Weasley!" she cried. "Remove that hex from your brother immediately!"

Ginny ignored her and let up a _'humph'_ of satisfaction before marching out of the kitchen.

"Where do you think you're going?" she heard Charlie call.

"What, I can't even go to the loo now?" she retorted.

"Well, hurry back!"

"I'll come back when I care to, thanks—"

Her words were cut off by the distinct _pops _of Apparition. Ginny screamed as several cloaked wizards materialized in front of her. They were followed by more people, totaling at least a dozen by the time they stopped Apparating. Her family rushed in behind her at her scream, but by then Ginny had regained her calm; the wizards were all Order members she recognized, all looking in the same state of chaos as Charlie. They were focusing their attention on a struggling figure that had been forced to the ground, his arms bound behind him and several Order members trying to hold him in place.

Lily Potter rushed to Ginny's side and yelled over the noise of Mrs. Black's renewed screams, "Charlie, you were supposed to get them out!"

"They refused… You know Ginny."

"No matter, no matter…" Lily said frantically. "Dumbledore should be here in a minute… He can get him under control…"

Ginny was still staring at the hooded man, the Prince of Darkness. He had glanced up for a second—probably at the sound of her scream—and though, like Charlie had said, there were nothing but shadows where his facial features should have been, she had felt like he had been staring straight into her eyes.

Fleur, noticing that Bill was among one of the Order trying to keep the Prince in control, started to rush to his side, but he shouted, "Stay back!"

There was a flash of red light, and the Prince slumped to ground, frozen.

"How were you able to Apparate in here?" Neville asked. The Headquarters of the Order, like Hogwarts, was enchanted to keep people from Apparating or flying into its premises.

"Dumbledore lifted the wards for fifteen seconds," said Mr. Weasley, coming up behind Lily. "He wanted to make sure we got him in here safely."

Mrs. Weasley pulled her husband into a tight embrace, tears of relief flowing down her face. "It's all right, Molly," Mr. Weasley consoled. "No one is seriously hurt—"

"Moody!" Sirius suddenly shouted. "He's breaking loose again!"

"What's happening?" Hermione questioned Lily.

"Our Stunners, he seems to be immune to them," Lily explained. "He breaks free of them in seconds! We can't risk all Stunning him at once; he'd die from the shock, and Dumbledore has made it clear we need him alive."

"Molly, do you have a room we can place him in for the moment?" James yelled, his wand pointed at the prisoner.

"Yes, yes…" Mrs. Weasley said. "Upstairs…let me just change the sheets and dust off the wardrobe…"

"Why don't you put in a nice vase of flowers while you're at it?" Ron said. "Make sure the Prince of Darkness has a nicely-scented cell."

"There's no need for that," James said, ignoring Ron's sarcasm. "We just need a room to keep him secure."

There was a shout of pain, and two Order members were on the ground before everyone realized the Prince had broken free of the Stunner and the bindings on his hands again. Sirius and Moody reached for his arms, and James jumped in to help. He placed a hand on the man's shoulder. The prince immediately shoved it away and shouted, "Get your hands off of me!"

His voice startled Ginny. Like Charlie had said, he sounded young, though his voice was deep with anger. And there was also something else in it Ginny couldn't quite figure out.

There was another flash of red light, and the Prince was knocked unconscious again. James and Moody kept their wands trained on his limp form as the others bound his arms again and followed Mrs. Weasley upstairs. One of the Order had levitated the Prince's body and was carrying it up, making sure to bump him into everything possible.

Ginny wanted to follow them, but her father gave her a knowing look and said, "No one is to go anywhere near his room, understood?"

Ginny sighed in defeat. "Fine."

Suddenly Mrs. Black's screams subsided—someone must have shut her curtains—and Bill appeared at the top of the stairs. Fleur ran to him and Ginny quickly turned away, determined not to witness their passionate reunion.

"Where's Dumbledore?" Neville asked.

"He just came in," Bill said, coming downstairs with his hand intertwined with Fleur's. "They're about to interrogate the Prince."

"I want to see him," Neville said.

"I don't think Dumbledore should be bothered at the moment," Lily told him kindly.

Ginny had never heard the prophecy that had people calling Neville "The Chosen One," but Neville had heard it from Dumbledore and had subsequently revealed its contents to Ron and Hermione. From the bits Ginny had overheard them discussing (Fred and George's Extendable Ears may or may not have played a role), she knew that either Neville or Lily's and James's son was to kill Voldemort. When Voldemort had killed Harry Potter, his parents had taken it upon themselves to love and protect Neville who, with Harry dead, was clearly the one the prophecy named. Neville's own parents had been driven mad by a Death Eater's Cruciatus Curse, but Lily and James were like a mother and father to him.

"All right," Neville said, though he looked exasperated. As they returned to the kitchen, Ginny overheard him whispering to Lily, "How is he supposed to mark me if I don't even give him the chance?"

"I have no intention of giving him a chance to do _anything_ to you," Lily responded, whispering as well. "Besides, you know he wasn't there today. It's always the Prince who leads the raids, isn't it?" As she saw Ginny approaching, she smiled and said, "Let's move on to a brighter subject, shall we? Merlin knows I've had enough death and darkness to last me a lifetime."

Her voice held a hint of sadness, and Ginny knew she was thinking of her infant son, and suddenly Ginny's thoughts wandered to him as well. If he were still alive, he'd be around her age—just a year older. Maybe they would have been friends. Maybe he would have stayed with her while Neville, Ron and Hermione whispered to themselves…

'He'd probably just hang out with them, too,' Ginny thought. 'He'd be fighting the Death Eaters while I'd still be here, doing nothing.' She forced herself to think of other things, and immediately her mind jumped to the prisoner upstairs. He was a bigger mystery than Harry Potter, and, at the moment, much more interesting. When he had glanced at Ginny for that brief second and Ginny had stared into the shadowy depths that should have been his face, she had felt like there was something…_wrong_ about him. And now that her curiosity had gotten the better of her, no matter what she had promised her father Ginny was going to find out everything possible about this mysterious Prince of Death.

* * *

This has been a long time coming, to say the least. I wanted to make it twice as long as this, to tell Harry's story, but I figured you guys had waited enough. I'll probably switch off point of views from Ginny to Harry, but it'll mostly be from Harry's point of view. Anywho, don't forget to leave a review!

--Molly


End file.
